Utah trucking company, owner sentenced for falsifying logbooks

| Monday, January 31, 2005

A federal judge sentenced SS Supply Trucking Inc. of Salt
Lake City and its owner to pay a total of $6,000 in fines and other court
assessments for making false statements in connection with drivers’ daily
logbooks.

The sentence came after the company’s owner, Bret Steel,
negotiated a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah. According
to the agreement, Steel pleaded guilty to one count personally and one count on
behalf of his company. Both counts concerned concealing hours-of-service
violations.

Both Steel and the company, SS Supply Trucking Inc., are on
24 months probation, which the federal government recommended as part of the
plea agreement. Steel could have faced up to five years in prison and a fine of
up to $250,000 for himself and $500,000 for his company had the case gone to
trial.

Steel pleaded guilty in November 2004 following an
investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FBI. He was
sentenced Jan. 13 in Salt Lake City.